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Bangladesh collapse death toll passes 620

The death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster has surpassed 620 after dozens more bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a nine-storey building that housed garment factories.

Search teams said the toll would almost certainly rise since debris had only been cleared down to the fifth floor of the pancaked building, and a strong stench from lower floors suggested more bodies would be found.

Lieutenant Imran Khan of the army control room coordinating the rescue said the confirmed death toll now stands at 622 after 53 bodies were pulled out on Sunday.

The Rana Plaza building, which housed five garment factories, collapsed at Savar near the capital Dhaka on April 24.

More than 3,000 people, mostly women workers sewing clothing for Western brands such as Mango, Benetton and Primark, were working inside at the time.

Police have charged the building owner Sohel Rana and five factory owners with causing death due to negligence and violating construction laws, charges punishable by a maximum seven years in jail

The wife of a male garment worker killed in the disaster has also filed a murder complaint against Rana, one of the garment factory owners and a municipal engineer.

Senior judicial magistrate Wasim Sheikh on Sunday accepted the complaint by Sheuli Akter and ordered an investigation, police inspector Mohammad Asaduzzaman said, adding the three face death by hanging if convicted of murder.

Rana, a local leader of the ruling Awami League political party, was arrested after a four-day hunt as he tried to flee to India.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site Sunday as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Mohammad Jashim, 25, whose garment worker sister Jakiya Begum was still missing, was among them. Every time a body was recovered he rushed to see whether the remains were those of his sister.

"I won't leave without her bones. She was like a mother to me," he said.

Officials said some bodies pulled from the wreckage have missing limbs and some have decomposed, delaying identification.

"We've identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or identity cards given by the factories," deputy administrator of Dhaka district, Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, said.

Military rescuer Major Delwar Hossain said the stench at the site suggested more corpses were trapped under the rubble, forcing search teams from the army and fire services to wear masks.

"The foul odour is so strong you cannot work there without wearing masks and using air fresheners," he said.

"More and more bodies are being found underneath the debris as we are removing debris from upper floors to make it to the lower floors."

Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed promised the government would "inspect all garment factory buildings" as Bangladesh faces pressure from Western brands to clean up an industry with a shocking accident record.

A preliminary government probe has said the collapse was caused by vibrations from four giant generators on the compound's upper floors.